Case study: Philip and Liz Harbottle

Doing business seamlessly, wherever thay happen to be: Liz and Philip Harbottle spend six months of the year in their home town of Windsor and the remainder in either Spain or South Africa, where they've invested in property. Philip owns a London-based web design company and Liz is a freelance journalist.

The challenge

The couple's international lifestyle brings its pleasures, but also its complexities:

(1) Friends and family have found it difficult to know which numbers to call, as the Harbottles are always on the move. The couple's business contacts faced the same problem.
(2) It can be days, weeks or even months before the couple receive messages left on different numbers, creating awkwardness and inconvenience... leading some people to stop calling them.
(3) Friends and family in the UK have worried about the cost of calling South Africa. Meanwhile, Philip nearly had a heart attack when he saw the roaming charges on his mobile phone bill!

The solution

They both found the international forwarding capabilities of dmVoice useful, but opted for different number ranges. Philip went for an 0871 number, as he needed to take business calls, whereas Liz preferred a 07-K 'world mobile' number.

(1) Phillip's 0871 number
Philip chose a prestigious 0871 number (often called a 'Euro' number) to give to business contacts - so they get the impression he's in the UK.

When he's in Europe, calls are diverted to his regular mobile phone. And when he's in South Africa, Phillip uses a local SIM card to avoid paying exorbitant roaming fees. The price for callers is discounted too - and much cheaper than regular international rates.

(2) Liz's 07-K number
Liz found than an 07-K 'world mobile' number (beginning 070059) meant she could always be located by magazine editors. What's more, the number was free for Liz and saved money for callers, as it included free call-forwarding to up to 180 countries, including Spain and South Africa.

(3) Using the online controls to update diverts
When they move from country to country, they both use the online controls (free with their numbers) to update the divert destination. This way they can each use one UK contact number, wherever they are in the world.

Key benefits

• It's 'business as usual ' for the couple, anywhere in the world
• They only need to give one number each to their contacts
• The couple use dmVoice to arrange the diverts to their mobiles
• Callers save money on the full international rates
• Phillip's 'roaming charges' have reduced to almost nothing
• They can both retrieve voicemails by phone or the web - and see Caller IDs online, even if UK callers don't leave a message